Repairing a Quilt

The large hole turned out to be the easiest to fix and was it located fairly close to a corner. With the quilt washed, I removed the label, the quilting and all the binding in both affected corners. By removing the quilting stitches around the hole all the way to the edges on both sides, I could 'peel' back the layers. The backing was easy to do, as I just cut a new piece of the very same backing fabric large enough to cover the hole and extend off of the two sides. I ironed under a 3/8" seam allowance and top-stitched the large patch in place through the backing and the batting. Then I got to work on the front. The easiest was to just applique a patch over the hole. The original area was made of 4 triangles that formed a square. The patch I made was a rectangle that I straight stitched down. I overlapped the new fabric quite a bit on the really chewed spot. You can see it in the show through at the bottom of the photo.

After stitching down the patch, I trimmed the old chewed up edges off so there wouldn't be as much show through. A piece of batting was cut to fill the void and the whole area was then pin basted.

The first thing I did was straight line stitch from corner to corner in the new block to make it look like the rest -- a fool the eye thing. The old meandered quilting stitches that were removed left needle holes that I was able to follow  for the rest of the quilting.

Here is the patch on the front after quilting. I am not going to show the back because the fabric is so busy you would not be able to see much.  I then turned my attention to the other nibbled corner. The dog only took out about a section that was 6 inches wide by 1/2 inch deep, but that included the binding. I am so glad I used the same fabric for the binding that I used for the backing because I have a bolt of that stuff. Yes, I do and it makes wonderful busy backings.

 Once again the binding was removed so that I could work in the area. Then I straightened up the edge a bit.

I cut a large piece of the backing fabric, turned under one short end and pressed. The fabric patch was placed face down on the straight edge (cut in the previous photo) on the backing side of the quilt. Batting was added on top and then machine stitched through all layers; the batting was trimmed out from the seam allowance and the patch and batting were pressed down in a sew and flip technique. Once the patch was flipped, the batting  butted up against the older section of the quilt but the fabric patch overlapped it. (See what I mean about the busyness of  this backing!) 

On the front side of the quilt, the patch was brought over the batting and the raw edge on the long side was turned under. I used a zig-zag stitch around the two sides of the patch, making sure to catch the unstitched patch on the backside of the quilt. The patch was then cut even with the edge of the quilt. O and the fun part? Making a new section of binding to fill in what the dog nibbled off.

Here's a shot of the whole quilt after the repair. The hole that was filled is in the lower left corner and the corner and binding that was fixed is not very see-able in the the shadowed lower right corner. Sorry.

And a close up that shows both repaired sections.

And there you have it: how I repaired my sister's quilt.

What type are you?

You know that I used to be a typographer, right? I love the smooth, sensuous curves of Bauhaus. And then there is Korinna with it's beautiful U and C that just makes me drool. I have never met a typeface (font) that I did not like. So what do you think of circles? Exciting? Maybe not one circle by itself, but add a couple of more and it will start to speak.

So when I saw this link on Sophie Junction I just had to play. My arm was twisted, really.

My result totally made me laugh out loud! Dot Matrix! Remember the old impact printers and their dot matrix font?

You can go to What Type Are You? (the password is: character) to find out your type.

Dot Matrix? LOL!

P.S. I am working diligently on repairing the quilt. It is taking a bit longer that I anticipated because 1) I work outside the home and 2) I am stopping to shoot photos. Stay tuned.

Making Something From Nothing

Wow, what an overwhelming response. I didn't think there would be that many of you wanting to see repair work on this quilt.

I do want to point out that this is a quilt that I personally made so I was fully aware of where the bias is located in those blocks. I had forgotten, however, that the strings were sewn to a fabric foundation and the foundation was left in the quilt. I now use the Kabinet Sandwich Paper (I get it at Sam's Club) that Bonnie Hunter talks about on her site and then I remove the paper before assembling the quilt. Go to Bonnie's String-X site and look at how the individual block is made and you will see what bias edges I am talking about: the corner triangles and some edges of the strings (that's why I foundation piece them).

It is quite interesting to re-visit an old quilt that you have made and to see how the fabrics and thread is holding up. This one has it's surprises.

Okay, then. This is a pieced quilt with the foundations left inside, a medium loft polyester batting and the backing was all the same uber-busy fabric pieced down the center (I have a bolt of this stuff that I picked up at a garage sale.) It is quilted on my DSM in a very large meander.

Little Sister just bundled it up and shipped it to me as is because she was afraid if she did anything to it further damage would ensue. The first thing I had to do was to stabilize the damaged areas and wash it. Because of my allergies, I can not work too closely or for very long on something that has been around animal dander/hair. I pinned the dickens out of both areas so nothing would shift and then put it through the wash -- twice.

This is not an heirloom quilt by any means. It was made to be used and loved. What I do on this quilt is not what I would recommend doing on an heirloom quilt. YMMV

Bad Dog!

Here is Little Sister's nibbled quilt. I made this quilt for my Little Sister in 2002 using Bonnie Hunter's String-X pattern. I love this pattern because it uses up those oddball scraps. Anyway. You can see the hole the dog chewed in the first photo and the corner and binding he nibbled off in the second photo. He missed the label on the back of the quilt by about one inch.

Sidebar: I used Sakura Micron Pigma Pens when I inked the label. The brown is still very good and readable. The green, on the other hand, bled and faded in a very unacceptable manner.

Since this quilt is so scrappy and I still have a considerable amount (a partial bolt!) of the backing it should not be too terribly hard to repair. Especially since I was the one who initially made the quilt. Would you be interested in watching the process?

Fabric Magnet

I don't know about you, but fabric just seems to find me. The box containing the nibbled quilt arrived and right on top of the contents was this note. "The rest" that sis is talking about is various lengths of fabric that are going to be marvelous for backings. Yes, indeedy.

Do you make cloth napkins? They make the most wonderful presents. A woven fabric like a homespun is the best fabric to use because it is the same on both sides. I cut my squares anywhere from 14-16" square. Then, using my serger, I just make either a rolled hem or a narrow hem. My preference is a narrow hem using wooly nylon. Easy and quick gift.

You want me to do WHAT?

My sister is heartbroken. Her dog chewed a hole in the quilt I gave her. Can it be fixed? I won't know until I see it. I think it can, because it is a string quilt. We will see.

Knitting for Charity

Photo credit: microsoft.com

The pointy sticks are working overtime, the 'scraps' of yarn in the stash are dwindling and the mittens are just flying off the needles. Yay!

A call went out from some local shelters that mittens were needed. So far, seven hats (a handspun yarn refused to be mittens), one scarf (missed when I donated scarves several monthes ago) and seven pairs of mittens are done and waiting. When finished, there will be a total of 13 pairs of mittens. And less yarn in the house. Once the scraps and leftovers are used up, why then quilting and sewing can resume.

Let's see, at one mitten an evening, by the end of the month there should be 6 more pairs of mittens. However, I am knitting the mittens two at a time on two longer circular needles and it takes me two evenings to get a pair finished. Since I am using up bits and bobs of yarn, I need to control the placement of the same yarn on each mitten so they match up and this is the technique that works for me. An upcoming meeting of the Finishing Club this Friday will give me 4 hours of knitting and woman time.

I'll be much closer to my goal of simplification at the end of the month. So, how are you?

Freakin' Geniuses

Remember when I said we got a Blu-ray Disc Player for Christmas? It played Star Trek fine and dandy. I even spied a Tribble in the background in one scene. So my next movie arrived from Netflix. It's a blu-ray version of IronMan. Won't play. It seems the disc player needs to have the firmware updated. I have to unplug it from both the wall and the teevee and bring it into the office where my router resides and plug it back into the wall, the monitor and the router and let it update. This might not be the only time I'll have to do this, so I was looking for a wireless (ethernet) adapter bridge so I could put this component on my WiFi network. Do you think I can find one of these around here? And under a $100? Nope. And the 14 year old geeks at the stores smirk at me and ask why I didn't get a PS3? Because it was a gift you dolt! Arggh!

I have a head ache and I'm going to bed. *sigh*

Thank You Gift

Quilting Bloggers are so special and are really nice people. Look what came in the mail from Nancy, Near Philadelpia! What a sweet and beautiful thank you gift. My thanks to you Nancy!

Redecorating

I have recently put on my geek hat and have redesigned a couple of blogs. One of them is Blogging Near Philadelphia. I love reading Nancy's blog and when she put out a call for help recently I came to her rescue. The other blog? Why it is mine, of course.

I have been wanting a new banner/header for quite a while. One that no one else had. It has taken a bit of time to figure out what I wanted and then to pull the elements together. This new banner allows me to change the background color to suit a whim, which at the moment is blue, my favorite color. I don't go for the cute, futzy backgrounds because they are not me. Not to mention the amount of time these backgrounds take to load, have you noticed? And because there are still people on dial-up (I can name several) that read my blog, I want it to load for them. I have always like a clean, zen style so here it is.

The Dicipline of Quilting?

Photo credit: iStockphoto.com

Here it is a brand new day in a brand new week in a brand new year. I stepped outside to retrieve the morning newspaper and noted a light dusting of snow had fallen overnight and now all sounds were muffled by the cold fog that blanketed my little corner of the planet.

I have been in a reflective and curious mood lately. I see things that are happening around me and I think "what if" or "is it possible"? As I read Karen's post this morning, my answer to her question just smacked my upside the head.


Karen, over at Living Life at LeeHaven  asked the following question: "What do you think the "discipline" is when it comes to Quilting?  Is it merely the hours you put in or is it finishing all the tops we have? Or is it more about things such as: • Studying/Reading books and magazines. • Honing your technical skills. • Networking and absorbing information.  •Trying new things.

Let me start by giving a back story. I used to do technical illustration and get paid for it. Old school style that included a LeRoy set and a Staedtler Mars professional compass set. It is this second item that brought this subject to the forefront of my brain. The LeRoy set has long since been removed from the premises, but the compass set has been useful in quilting. I needed it this weekend and do you think I could find it? No. During the search, I realized how much stuff I had for my 'hobbies'.

Scrapbooking consumed my life for several years and I have ALL the supplies. Rubber stamps, paper, ink pads, adhesives, doo dads, and paint fill drawers in a closet converted for scrapbooking. Knitting has recently taken over my hands in the evenings. And with knitting there is another stash, this time of yarn and needles. And let's not forget the quilting and it's own stash of stuff, not just fabric but books and notions and acoutrements, O my! I collect. I collect things that enable.

What has all this to do with Karen's question? I had already decided to be less of a conspicuous consumer; you know the old saying about 'use it up, make do, or do without'. My pocket book will thank me, the hidden but bulging spaces in my house will thank me and I will thank me.

I answered Karen's question by saying that follow-through should be my dicipline. And that is so, but it is only part of the answer. Go over to Karen's blog and let her know your thoughts.

Crazy? Maybe so

If you are a frequent reader, you will have noticed that I am a member of The Appliquè Society. See it listed over on my sidebar under Society Affiliations? Recently, on the eChapter, there has been a push to make a list of the 5 (five) UFO appliquè projects members want to finish in 2010. I did not think that I had five UFO appliquè projects, but while driving back from Denver-town recently I had these items pop into my mind.

1. The Iris Garden
 You have stayed with me during my blathering on and on about this one but if you want to read more just click the link to read more about this quilt. This one is machine appliquè .

2. Father Christmas triptych.
I don't believe I have ever mentioned this one. It started in the 1980's? (check out the pin dots) with a quick (ha!) applique project of Belsnickel that turned into a larger project with nine blocks and now is back to a smaller one with three blocks. I have Belsnickel done, Father Christmas is partly done and the third is probably going to be the central figure in an Italian folk tale. This one is hand appliquè.

3. Dance!
This was a challenge quilt with MagicLady that neither one of has finished yet. I have no idea what her quilt looks like but what you see here are just a bit of the front and all of the back on mine. The rules are the perimeter could not be larger than 1200 inches total, the quilt is inspired by a song or poem, and had to use a certain fabric, which you can see there on the backing. See it? That polka-dotted one? I had this pin basted and ready to quilt but something bothered me about it so I unpinned it and it awaits further work. Of all five, this one is the closest to being finished. This one is machine appliquè.

4. Coneflower was started in a David Taylor workshop this past summer. I fully intended to finish this one because I just love the process involved. And we all know that I am a process oriented quilter now don't we? This one will be hand appliquè.

5. Something to Crow About is another challenge quilt that MagicLady and I are doing. We each have two of these very sad vintage blocks that we picked up at a quilt show. They are wonky, ruffled, not square and the red has bled into the white making it a mottled pinkish color. The rules are to make another quilt using these blocks either whole or using bits and parts. It must be 24" square. Other than that, anything goes. I have my design and coordinating fabrics. I just need to implement. We got the idea from Vintage Revisited exhibit at a quilt show. Want to know and see more? Visit this website: www.marywkerr.com. I have not decided if this will hand or machine appliquè yet -- to be determined based upon the design.

And there you have it. I must be crazy.